§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what responsibility his Department has for ensuring that foodstuffs are safe for human consumption and carry no risk of food poisoning; in what way this responsibility is carried out; how many and what type of staff are required; what is the annual cost to his Department; and what has been the change in the number of staff and the annual cost to his Department in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Ryder[holding answer 15 December 1988.]: The Ministry has joint responsibility with the Department of Health for ensuring that foodstuffs are wholesome and safe. This responsibility is exercised through legislation, principally the Food Act 1984 and subordinate legislation 604W and the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985. Under the Food Act 1984 the food industry has the primary responsibility for ensuring that its products are safe.
While enforcement of the legislation lies mainly with local authorities the Ministry also carries out an extensive programme of food surveillance designed to complement the effect of statutory controls and monitor their effectiveness. The work is co-ordinated by the steering group on food surveillance and its latest report, "Food Surveillance Paper No. 24," has been deposited in the Library of the House. The steering group and its working parties also liaise with other advisory committees with responsibility for food safety matters, including the food advisory committee, the advisory committee on pesticides and the veterinary products committee.
A detailed breakdown of ministerial objectives in the area of food safety and the resource allocations, including manpower, over the last three years, are given in programmes 35, 36, 37 and 51 of the Ministry's MINIM 1987 publication. Subprogramme 51a identifies the resources allocated for research into food safety. A copy of MINIM 87 is in the Library of the House.